Counterinsurgency

Counterinsurgency
by David Kilcullen
Published in May 2010
272 Pages
Thibault’s Score: 3/5


This book was written by David Kilcullen, former advisor to General David Petraeus and one of the masterminds behind the Surge. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s top counter terrorism experts. Throughout the book, he draws heavily on his own various personal experiences.


His book is written as a guide for counter-terrorist professionals - he writes a lot in the second person, giving direct advice to the reader about various counter terrorism topics.


The book gave me insights into the minds of counter terrorism officials, and the types of metrics that they use to determine success. I found the chapter where Kilcullen explains his international incident on the border with Indonesia where his troops had an extended shootout with the Indonesians to be very interesting.


The conclusion of the book couldn’t be more dull or cliche. The last chapter concludes that counterterrorism experts need to focus on innovation and non military solutions.


Overall, this book didn’t greatly impact or shape my way of thinking about terrorism, but it was by no means a difficult or unpleasant read.